Lost CNA Needs help......

[clarinets, CNA]

Hopefully this is much clearer. I am a CNA hired through a registry that sends me to hospitals. I managed to get a nurse upset the other day and she reported me to the nursing supervisor, for not be energetic and not asking questions. I told the nursing supervisor that I would ask questions throughout the shift, and would often get the run around or ignored. In some cases I was assertive. Here are the questions I would ask:

Where are the clean linens? Where is the soiled utility room? Where again is the clean utility room? Where do I get ice? Where is the kitchen? Who needs to be ambulated and when? Who is incontinent? Okay, the last two I asked at the beginning of the shift. I keep getting sent to a nurse or back to the cna and then the nurse again. I can only be assertive so much. So what am I doing wrong? Please help me. ICU/Telemetry.

[Gooselady, BSN, RN]

It sounds like you are nervous about just getting out there and starting in. That's pretty much what we need. It's OK to not know where exactly XX is or where to put YY, but to wait passively to be told what to do next is gonna get the nurses frustrated with you.

Just get in the room and start in. No nurse is going to get mad at you for doing peri care or helping order a meal or checking for pain. "Take the initiative", as they say. Do foley care, collect I&Os, reposition some pillows -- you can do all that without knowing where everything on the unit is. All you have to do is find the clean linen once :) No need to put all work on hold until you know where the dirty utility room is, clean, change and bag it and then ask. If you don't see vitals yet recorded, grab a set. Run around with ice water, set up some bed pans so they are ready.

Just hit the floor and start doing CNA stuff once you get your assignment and expectations set by the charge nurse. It's better to 'overdo it' as a CNA than fearfully undo do it until you feel more familiar. Every patient needs something from your job description, it's more than easy to find more work than you can do.

[ownthesky25]

What was the supervisor's response when you said you got the "run around" as you put it? From what you described those are all questions I would ask when starting somewhere new so I'm not sure exactly what the nurse was reporting for. Perhaps, Gooselady is correct and you just appear too timid, and as she said - just start doing CNA stuff.

I work in LTC but occasionally get pulled to subacute. When that happens, after I get my assignment I introduce myself to every patient and ask them what they need from me/what I help I can give. Not everyone needs the same level of care, and I certainly don't have time to ask the nurse (who usually has no idea if the patient can ambulate unassisted) or find another CNA who might know. It surprises me the number of times I'm told by patients that I'm the only aide that has ever introduced themselves.

Since you work in ICU introducing yourself to the patient's family might be apt, but even when I have patients who are non-verbal I still tell them my name and what I'm going to do for them because they can hear. I don't know if they understand but I notice a difference in demeanor when I talk to them during care and when I don't.

Best of luck!